Fountain-pen.



C. R. KEER/XN.

FOUNTAIN PEN.

APPLlcATloN FILED MAY 2. Isalav @ka/Vif CHARLES R. KEERN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOS, ASSGNOR TO KEERAN PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 0F ILLINOIS.

FOUNTAIN-PEN.

Specification of Letters Etatent,

Patented Apr, 125, letti?.

application tiled May 2, 1918. Serial No. 232,052.

' a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fountain-Pens, of which the following is a specification rifhis invention relates to fountain pens, and more particularly to certain improvements `which are designed to increase the capacity of the ink reservoir in the barrel.

According to the constructions which1 are now in common use, the barrel oit the foun-` tain pen is'formed of hard rubber oit a sub staiitial thickness to insure the requisite' strength. `l`he outside diameter of such a barrel is necessarily limited by considerations'of convenience in handling and the desire to keep 'the proportions syninietricai. It follows, consequently, that the interior vdiameter ofthe barrel is much less than the outside diameter because of the thickness of the Walls.

ln some styles of pens now made, the rubber barrel is incased Within a metallic sheathing, usually of gold or silver, but in such cases the capacity cf the ink reservoir remains unchanged. F or these reasons the cubical space available as an ink reservoii can only be a fraction of the cubi/cal space occupied by the exterior of the barrel.

The primary object of this invention, therefore, is to devise a fountain pen Whose barrel is formed of a comparatively thin inaterial so as to provide an ink reservoir there- Wvithin 'et' the maximum capacity. As the volume of a cylindrical body varies as the square of its diameter, 'it is obvious that only a small increase in the inside diameter oli the harrel is necessary to double the capacity of the inlir reservoir.

"With the end in view of providing a construction which will afford a considerably greater capacity for ink, and which will provide an ink-tight joint between the barrel and pen section, the present invention has been devised. Other objects and uses will also appear from the description to follow, wherein reference is made to the acconipanying drawing which illustrates in lungi tudinal section tivo suggestive embodiments of my inventionv Figure l representing a construction in which a threaded inlet/ight joint is provided between the barrel and the bushing, the

bushing being short; and

Fig. 2 representing a construction in which a threaded ink-tight joint is provided between the barrel and the bushing, thc bushing;r being' relatively long.

Referring now particularly to Fig. l, I

'have illustrated a fountain pen comprising a nietallicbarrel 5 of the usual cylindrical form having a closed end 6, the opposite end 7 being open, the Walls adjacent thereto heing threaded both interiorly and exteriorly. Such a barrel may be orniedof Sonie of ythe finer metals,such as gold or silver, the Walls of the barrel lbeing relatively thin. ln order to provide threads both interiorly and exteriorly upon the end 7, l prefer to arrange them in complementary relation; that is, the highest points of the exterior threads are .made to eorrespondwith the lowest points of the interior threads so that the thickness of the Walls in the region of the end 7 is substantially the saine as elsewhere in the barrel. l

Sci'eiwtlireaded into the end T, is a bushing 8, which l preferto form of the same material as the pen section 9, preferably oi hard rubber or other suitable composition.

.The pen section is provided with the custom In 'forming the exterior threads on the bushing relative to Ithe interior threads of the barrel with which it engages, l arrange these parts so that they engage with a high degree of friction and require considerable force for their assembly. This is for the purpose ot' n'iaking a. tit between the bushingand the .barrel end 7 sufficiently tight to pre vent any leakage of ink, and to prevent the bushingf from unscrewinpr from the barre-l Whenever the pen section is removed 4from the bushing. ril`he threaded connection bctiveen the stein l() oi the pen section' i) and the interior of the bushing is formed less tightly to permit these parts to be unscrewed after the manner common to fountain pens. It follows, therefore, that due to the differences in friction with which the bushin engages the barrel on the one hand an the threaded stem of the pen section on the other hand, the latter may always be unscrewed from the bushi without danger of unscrewing the bushing from the barrel. As is common with ens of this character, a cap 11 is provided, tie same being threaded as at 12 near its open end to engage -With the eX- terior threads of the barrel. In their assembled relation the parts will occupy positions substantially as is shown in Fig. 1.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 2, I

have shown a construction that is very simi.

lar to that already described in connection with Fig. 1. The pen of Fig. 2 is equipped with a barrel 10a, the lower end being broken laway in the figure, and the upper end 11 being threaded interiorly and exteriorly in the same manner as has already been described in connection with Athe threads at the end 7` 0f the barrel in Fig. 1. The bushing 12a is exteriorly threaded to be tightly en- 'gaged by the interior threads at the end llla of the barrel 10, so as not to be easily removable therefrom. The bushing 12, however, extends beyond the end 112L of the barrel as at 13, this extended portion being interiorly threaded to receive the threaded stem 14 of vthe pen section 15. A cap 16 is interiorly threaded as at 17 to be secured to the exterior threads at the end 11 of the barrel. In this construction it will be noted when the lcap is removed the projecting end of the bushing will be exposed and may be grasped by the fingers when writing, in case this is found desirable.

In each of the constructions described, it is obvious that the use of the metallic barrel dispenses with the customary rubber shell which ordinarily constitutes the reservoir, and adds greatly to the capacity of the pen. The well known diiiculties in providing an ink-tight joint between a pen section and any metallic part has prevented the use of metallic barrels for such pens. However, by utilizing a bushing with which the pen section may engage to form an ink-tightjoint, and which may be fitted into the end of the barrel in a. manner to prevent the leakage of ink, I am enabled to overcome the obstacles mentionedv and to provide a construction in which a. much greater capacity for ink is provided. The operations 'of refilling the pen which require the pen section to be temporarily removed from the barrel are in nowise affected by the present construction, since the pen section is removable from the bushing with the same ease as has been formerly the case where the pen section has been screwed directly into the upper end of a rubber barrel. When replaced, the joint will be as free from leakage as though the entire barrel were made of hard rubbri.` in the usual I claim:

1. In a fountain pen, the combination of a barrel having its open end threaded interiorly, a bushing formed to engage with the barrel threads with relatively great friction to form anink-tight joint therewith, and a pen section formed to engage with the bush ing with relatively small friction and for1ning an ink-tight joint therewith, whereby the pen section may be rotated to disengage from the bushing without unscrewing the bushing from the barrel, substantially as de scribed.

2. In a fountain pen, the combination of a metallic barrel having its open end formed with threads exteriorly and interiorly thereof, the convolutions of the threads on the inner and outer sides of the barrel being arranged to preserve'a thickness of metal .therebetween at every point substantially equal to the thickness of the barrel walls, a bushing threaded interiorly and exteriorly and adapted for engagement with relatively vgreat friction with the interior threads on ing,l whereby the pen section may be unl screwed from the bushingl without causing' the bushing to unscrew from the barrel,'and

a cap-arranged to cover the -pen section and engage with the exterior threads of the barrel, substantially as described.

3. In a fountain pen, the combination of a metallic barrel having its open end formed with threads exteriorly and interiorly thereof, the eonvolutions of the threads on the inner and outer sides of the barrel being in staggered relation, a bushing threaded interiorly and exteriorly and adapted for engagement with relatively great friction with the interior threads on the barrel, a pen section having a threaded stem adapted for en gagement w ith relativelysmall friction with the interior of vthe bushing, whereby the pen Section maybe unscrewed from the bushing without causing the bushing to unscrew from the barrel, and a, cap arranged to cover the pen section and engage with the exterior threads of the barrel, substantially as described.

4. In a fountain pen, the combination of a metallic barrel, a rubber pen section, and means constituting a joint between the barrel and pen section comprising a rubber member tightly and permanently fitted to the barrel and less tightly fitted to the pen section and forming an ink-tight joint with each, the pen section being removable from ion j IIB scribed.

5. In a fountain pen, the combination cf a metallic barrel, a rubber pen section, and engaging therewith in a manner to form a 10 a rubber bushing into which the pen section permanent and ink-tight joint with the baris removably threaded, the bushing being rel, and a rubber pen section removably permanently secured within the barrel in a threaded into the bushing, substantially as 5 manner to form an ink-tight joint there described.

with, substantially as described.

6. In a fountain peu, the combination of a metallic barrel, a rubber bushing having Witness: la threaded connection with the barrel and EPHRAIM BANNING.

CHARLES R. KEERAN. 

